This REPUBLICAN was the first black senator elected by popular vote since Reconstruction. He was a liberal and represented Massachusetts until the late 1970s. He fucked Barbara Walters, a white woman, when she was much better looking. He lost his office when the democratic forces parleyed his nasty divorce into charges of financial impropriety though he was never indicted. Brooke was even considered for the position of Vice President under Richard Nixon.
African American Republican Edward Brooke predates all of those democratic firsts by 30 years. Here's to Edward Brooke!!!